


Flowers

by PrayForRain



Series: Something More than Teammates [6]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Bonding, F/M, Pre-Slash Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, unadulterated fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-27
Updated: 2012-10-27
Packaged: 2017-11-17 04:31:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/547645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrayForRain/pseuds/PrayForRain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce and Carmen have been searching the South American rain forests for a flower that may be the key to curing Natasha. But of course, nothing is ever as easy as it seems, and it looks like they're going to need the Hulk's help in order to retrieve this flower. Will he help them, or will he decide to get back to his favorite past-time of smashing things?</p><p>Also: Carmen gives a bit of backstory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: Okay, so it’s kind of been a while, and I’ll explain why—first, there was Camp NaNoWriMo. And then finishing the rest of the novel after that. And then I got sidetracked bringing some great Lord of the Rings stories over (something that is still in progress) but I wanted to get this out so that I could write a Halloween story soon after. SO, here goes!
> 
> Disclaimer: I am not a scientist. The flowers I describe are not real flowers. I took a botany class, but it was only for the North Georgia mountains so I don’t know anything about South American flowers. But hey, here are some pretty fantastical flowers instead! Lol.

Episode Six: Flowers

It was customary for one to bring flowers to someone on a date. This, however, was no date that Bruce had ever imagined, although he supposed it shouldn’t surprise him, since nothing had gone to plan. He had a bundle of flowers in his arms, all a different shape, color and size. A small spring flowing with crystal clear waters gurgled next to him.

It was a beautiful scene, tall, pristine trees towering above him, creating walls in the little clearing. And Carmen was sitting in the grass, her messy hair pulled into a loose bun at the top of her head. Even like this, dressed in a plain black tank top and cargo pants, with a fine sheen of sweat glistening on her skin, she was almost breathtakingly beautiful.

“They only grow around here,” Carmen was explaining, sorting through a bundle of her own flowers. “It’s just a matter of time—we’ll find them.”

“We don’t even know for sure what they look like,” Bruce said, dropping his bundle beside her and flopping into a seated position. He brushed an arm across his forehead, wiping away some sweat that had been plastering his hair uncomfortably to his forehead, then began sorting through the flowers.

“Well, no, but we do have one advantage,” Carmen said, beaming at him, and Bruce had to quietly catch his breath at the sight of it. Damn, he was falling hard.

“And what advantage is that?” he asked, returning her smile with a much smaller one of his own.

“Honestly, how often do you forget that I’m psychic?” she rolled her eyes fondly at him.

“Well, I’m sorry. It’s not like psychics are something that show up in my life regularly. But what does being psychic have to do with getting the right flower to help Natasha? Can you just sense it or something?”

“Yes, and no.”

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. “Well, which is it, yes or no?”

“Both!” Carmen laughed, “I can sense psychic energy, and the flower we’re looking for has a very distinct psychic fingerprint. It’s just a matter of reading each type of flower fully to find the right one.” 

“Something tells me this is going to be a long, very annoying process. Is there anything else we can use to find this flower? I’m not psychic, but it would certainly go a lot faster if we could both be testing things,” Bruce stated, turning a few flowers over and beginning to organize them by color for the sake of giving his hands something to do. He didn’t like feeling useless.

Carmen bit her lip, thinking. “Well, it also contains a light purple liquid in its stem. It’s this liquid that we’ll be using to make the medicine for Natasha. The tricky thing is that there are a fair number of flowers that also contain light purple liquid, so it isn’t foolproof.” 

“Still, it’s a start. At least then we can rule out a few. I’ll begin testing these out and send the ones with purple liquid over your way to check the psychic fingerprint you mentioned.”

As he worked, Bruce allowed his mind to wander a bit, to the whole start of this crazy mission to South America.

He had never imagined that he would be coming back here—it had been a while, and some of his memories of this place weren’t exactly glistening with hope and happiness. At one point, he had imagined a life here. He’d gotten a dog, a job at the bottling plant, he was learning Portuguese and he’d been working on controlling his ‘condition.’ He remembered that then he had been looking for a plant, too. He also remembered what a massive failure that had been, and he remembered that all the stuff he had managed to build there had been taken away from him in one night.

Shaking his head to clear it of all those memories, he looked up to see Carmen concentrating on one of the flowers. “So,” he began when she tossed it on the discard pile, “Where’s your family from? Around these parts?”

“Colombia, actually,” she said, reaching for another flower and sparing him a look and a soft smile. “It’s not nearly as peaceful as it is here.”

Bruce winced. He had heard a lot about Colombia’s political situation and none of it was especially good. It was the cocaine capital of the world, a situation which made living there very dangerous indeed. “How did you get out?”

Carmen paused, as if considering whether or not she should say anything. Bruce understood—he wasn’t sure he’d be so willing to talk about his past, either. As he began to let go, to turn his attention back to the flowers, Carmen spoke. “I was just a kid,” she said, “This woman came to us. Promised that she would get my sister and I out of there. We didn’t have anyone else, so we agreed. And she followed up on her promise.”

“Who was this woman?” Bruce asked, curious despite himself.

Carmen shook her head, smiling just a bit. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, and I’m not sure we’re near close enough for me to go into that just yet.”

“Oh, sorry!” Bruce quickly said, realizing he had overstepped himself.

“No, no, you did nothing wrong. I would like for us to be close enough. I just don’t think we are just yet,” Carmen quickly amended.

“Right, yeah, I understand. Of course I understand,” Bruce began, but a sudden explosion of thunder interrupted him and a moment later, rain began falling in sheets. That was the thing about the rainforests of South America—there was no moderate rains. There was only downpours.

Carmen shrieked and stood. “We need to find cover,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself.

“I think I saw a cave about a mile that way,” Bruce shouted over the sound of the rain hitting the trees and the rumbling of thunder, pointing in the direction he had come from earlier.

“What about the flowers!?” Carmen asked, looking down at the pile.

“Leave them. We can find some new ones.”

She nodded and, with one last glance at the flowers, began heading in the direction he had indicated.

He jogged and caught up to her, wrapping an arm around her reflexively, as if he could protect her from the storm. She didn’t shy away from him—to the contrary, she tucked herself close, leaning in to him.

This felt right to Bruce, though he couldn’t quite place his finger on it. It was just a feeling of comfort, of happiness, and as terrified as that made him, he couldn’t help but admit it to himself that he might actually want this.

As they struggled up the hill, the rain became even more insistent. The canopy of the trees offered some comfort, but even that was becoming short lived. The ground beneath their feet was treacherous, each step sliding more and more and making it difficult to keep a foothold.

They were almost to the top when Carmen suddenly cried out. Bruce tightened his hold on her, wondering what had happened. 

“What is it!?”

“I feel it! It's really strong,” she said, “Up there!”

Bruce followed her gaze and had to bite back a bitter curse. “How are we supposed to get up there?”

“I don’t know! It’s impossible. Unless…” she trailed off and he glanced down at her.

 “Unless what?”

“Unless you let ‘the other guy’ out. He could get up there easily, right?”

Bruce felt discomfort spread up his spine. “I don’t think that’s such a great idea.”

“Of course. We’ll just have to think of something else. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“Well, the flower is pretty rare. What if it’s the only one, and there isn’t another way up? Natasha is counting on us.”

Bruce looked away from her after the explanation. Natasha needed them, but he was afraid of what the Hulk might do to Carmen. He was notoriously unpredictable. He may have saved her once, but that didn’t mean he would this time.

“Bruce…” He felt her hand on his arm and looked at her once more. Her face was sincere as she looked up into his dark eyes. “I trust you.”

“Well, it isn’t me you have to worry about,” Bruce said, but he could already feel his resistance beginning to drift.

“I trust the Hulk, too. Bruce, this might be our only chance.”

He closed his eyes. ‘Big guy?’ he began mentally, knowing that the Hulk was always resting just underneath his consciousness. He felt an answering growl. Sometimes, the Hulk used words, but most of the time, he kept those to a minimum, preferring to let his feelings be known through smashing things, mostly. ‘I’m going to let you out. All I ask is that you help me get that flower without severing the root and don’t hurt Carmen. Can you do that?’

There was no answer, so Bruce trusted that he got the message across and now all he could do was let the wave run over him.

It was painful at first, like an explosion of nerves all over his body. Everything flashed green, and he clenched his fists and eyes closed. Another explosion, and his eyes shot open, glowing green. The rest of his body followed suit, expanding and turning green, and then Bruce was no more than a thought behind a ball of rage.

Carmen stared up at the Hulk expectantly but without fear. Hesitantly, she reached up a hand and touched his arm. “You’re a beauty,” she whispered in awe. It was not her first time around the Hulk, but this was the first time she’d gotten the full effects of the transformation. The scientist in her was truly curious about everything this creature stood for. The psychic in her wanted to know his every thought, but she didn’t dare intrude on his mind, fearing that he would take that as an invasive attack and react accordingly.

The Hulk snorted down at her and then, with a burst of speed, rocketed up the hill. Such was his speed that the blast nearly toppled Carmen. She grabbed onto a tree to steady herself and watched in amazement as the Hulk leapt one more time, reaching the top of the rocks where the flower was situated.

For a moment, she feared that he Hulk would just rip the flower apart and thus seal Natasha’s fate, but with surprising gentleness he tugged the flower up, roots and all, just as it was supposed to be retrieved. He held it for a moment, then pulled it close to his massive chest and leapt down.

Carmen wasn’t expecting him. This time, when the blast nearly toppled her, her fingers slipped on the tree and she became unbalanced. The mud beneath her feet, which was already treacherous, shifted and then her ankle twisted, eliciting a sharp cry of pain from her. She was about to fall off the side of the mountain, but Hulk’s arm reached out and plucked her off the ground.

“Clumsy girl,” the Hulk snorted, and Carmen laughed, unable to stop herself. The Hulk looked puzzled as he set her down.

“Sorry,” she said, then cursed when her weight caused her ankle to twinge painfully.

“Hurt?” the Hulk asked, and she could almost hear concern in his voice.

“Just my ankle,” she began, but before she could finish he picked her up again and began carrying her towards the cave. “Thank you.”

The Hulk gave a short grumble which seemed to be about as close to a ‘your welcome’ as she could ever hope to get out of him. Still, she couldn’t believe how…gentle he was being. Just like the last time, when he had caught her from the sky. It was like he was afraid to break her. Many believed the Hulk to be a beast only of destruction, but she was beginning to see that that wasn’t always the case. At least, not when it came to the fairer sex.

 She had read the files, of course. About Betty Ross and Bruce’s relationship with her. Betty’s accounts told of a gentler side of the beast, a protective side, that had up to that point never been displayed before.

 Carmen wasn’t stupid; she knew that the Hulk could be dangerous. But she sensed no ill will towards her, and that was enough.

 They reached the cave and the Hulk placed her on the ground before he hunkered down in the entrance, blocking wind and rain. He thrust the flower at her before returning to his vigil, watching the forest closely in case something where to happen.

 “This is it,” she said mostly to herself, staring at the fairly beat up flower—the rain and wind had not been kind to it, even before the Hulk had retrieved it. Still, the stem and root were intact. All she had to do was extract the medicine from the stem and the root and Natasha might very well be saved. Smiling to herself, she set to work. Tomorrow, she and Bruce would return to America, and hopefully, they would finally get to see Natasha back to normal.

 

*

 

Their return was marked by a great deal of celebration, though Tony seemed a bit distracted. Steve stuck close to his side, and when Bruce shot him a questioning look, he shook his head, as if telling him they’d talk about it later.

Clint wasn’t present, presumably still standing vigil at Natasha’s bedside, but Thor greeted them with a giant shout and an even more massive hug, taking him and Carmen into his arms at once and nearly cracking their ribs.

“Did you get it?” Steve asked anxiously and Tony glanced up, some semblance of hope glistening behind the dark eyes.

“Yep, it’s right here,” Bruce said, pulling the small vial out of his doctor supplies bag. “I’m going to take it into the lab and run a few minor tests to make sure it’s safe, but I have it.”

“So, you’re saying Tasha’s going to be better?” came a voice from the doorway and they all turned to see Clint. Coulson was right behind him, obviously having pried him away from Natasha’s bedside in hopes of getting him to do basic survival things such as eating and sleeping.

“If all goes well, yes,” Bruce said, and Clint visibly relaxed.

“Then what the hell are we waiting for? To the lab, big guy!” Tony said, moving over and draping an arm around Bruce’s shoulder, leading him towards the elevator.

“It won’t be long,” Bruce promised Clint, and then they vanished behind the doors of the lift.

 

*

 

“Clint?” The word hovered in the air for a moment, filling the silence that had fallen on the group as they had administered the cure. To Clint, it sounded like the most beautiful voice of all time.

“Tash,” Clint said, reaching out and taking her hand.

Natasha sat up in the bed. She looked as if she were just waking up from a particularly restful slumber. “What happened?”

“Psychic attack,” Carmen said, “We were all really worried.”

Natasha’s face screwed up in confusion. “How long was I out?”

“A while,” came Tony’s strangely subdued voice. “Sorry about that, by the way. You were never supposed to get hurt. We would have lost you if not for Carmen here.”

Natasha smiled. “Carmen, huh? I guess I owe you one,” she said.

Carmen held up her hands. “It wasn’t all me. Bruce here did most of the heavy lifting. Correction, all of the heavy lifting.”

Bruce ducked his head, but he caught the grin she gave him and it was infectious. Before long, the whole room was full of beaming superheroes.

“Glad tidings!” Thor boomed, “Let us celebrate the triumphant return of our own beloved warrioress!”

“I know just what to do,” Tony said, “Halloween party, bring your own costumes. Don’t dress up as yourselves, though, that’s just in poor taste. I’ll leave you two lovebirds to sort out your feelings. The rest of you, with me.”

“Tony, are you sure it’s such a good idea to—“ Steve began, but Tony cut him off.

“Nonsense, it’s always a good idea to party. Look at her, she’s the very picture of health. It would be downright wrong not to celebrate in style. Now come on, Capsicle, we’re standing in the way of true love here.”

The door closed behind them, leaving Clint and Natasha alone in the room.

“You know, with how often we end up in situations like this, it really shouldn’t be so hard,” Natasha said, rubbing circles on his hand.

“It shouldn’t,” Clint agreed, “But need I remind you of what happened last time I came back from a mission in a bad way?”

“Let’s not,” Natasha said, making a face.

“Still, I’m happy you’re back,” Clint said, and he stood, placing a kiss on her forehead. If anybody else tried this, Natasha would have probably ripped their lips off and hung them with them. But this was Clint, and only he was allowed to show her that kind of affection. Only him.

“Me, too” she said, and she meant it. It was good to be back.


End file.
